178
ESSEX HERONRIES.
Wanstead Heronry. —This heronry is in Wanstead Park, now forming
part of Epping Forest, and under the control of the Corporation of
London, acting as Conservators of the Forest.4 Formerly the birds built
on an island in the upper pond in the park, which consequently ac-
quired the name of the "Heron Pond," but they now frequent "Lincoln's
Island," and during the nesting season special precautions are taken
by the Conservators to prevent the birds being disturbed. In
"Science Gossip" for April, 1869, Mr. Harting gave an excellent
account of his visit to this heronry, which we cannot do better than
quote here. The description was reprinted in Mr. Harting's
"Sketches of Bird Life" (1883), pp. 266-268 :—
"The date of our visit was the 5th of April [1866], and the birds were
then sitting on their eggs. The heron is one of the few waders which resort to
a tree for the the purpose of nidification, and a stranger sight than a number of
these great birds perched at the top of a lofty elm can scarcely be imagined.
Twenty years ago the herons at Wanstead Park tenanted some trees at a different
spot to that which they now frequent. At present they occupy some tall elms
upon an island in the largest piece of water in the park. The keeper informed
us that there were about thirty pairs. We proceeded to the boat-house and,
after baling out the boat, which was nearly full of water, steered for the heron's
island. A good glass enabled us to see the birds very clearly, and most of them
were in splendid plumage. The nests were placed at the very tops of the trees,
and many of them were occupied by a sitting bird. Here and there a heron stood
erect upon a bough, with head and neck drawn in, looking for all the world like
a cold sentinel, with his bayonet between his teeth and his hands in his trousers
pockets. As we approached the island several loud croaks were heard, and the
sentinels took wing, the sitting birds being the last to leave. Taking it for granted
that the bird which sat the longest was the most likely to have eggs, we selected
a tree from which a heron flew as we reached it.
"It was a wych-elm, about forty feet high, and the nest was placed amongst the
topmost branches. After a fatiguing climb, owing to the absence of boughs for a
considerable distance, we reached the top, and paused to rest before looking
into the nest. And now was the anxious moment. Were our exertions in vain ?
Was the nest empty ? or were we to be rewarded with the sight of eggs ? The
nest was large enough to sit in, composed externally of large twigs—chiefly elm
and willow —and lined with smaller twigs, fibre, and dry grass. It overhung our
heads to some extent, so that we were obliged to pull away a portion of the side
before we could see into it, when, to our delight, four beautiful eggs were displayed,
their bright bluish-green colour contrasting well with the dark fibre on which
they were laid. The wind blew in gusts, and it was no easy matter to get them
down safely ; but at length we succeeded in getting them into our handkerchief,
and, holding the ends together in our mouth, brought them down without a crack.
They were considerably incubated, showing that they had probably been laid
about the end of the third week in March."
In Mr. Buxton's "Epping Forest" (first edition, p. 97) we are
4 See report of meeting of the Club at Wanstead Park, ante, page 79.—Ed.